Thread-advancing reel



June 11, 1940. B, KLINE r AL 2,203,686

' THREAD-ADVANCING 'REEL Filed 0012. 26, 1936 3 Sheets Sheet l INVENTORSHAYDEN B. KLINE LAVE RN J. JORDAN A TTORNEY June 1940. H. B. KLINE ET ALTHREAD'ADVANCING REEL Filed Oct. 26, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORSHAYDEN B. KLINE LAVERN J.JORDAN A TTORNEY June 1940. H. B. KLINE ET AL2,203,686

THREAD *ADVANC ING REEL Filed Oct. 26, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 3- mo zq I40/60 I80 200 220 240 260 250 300 I WEIGHT 0F Ma/srz/RE 11v WRE'AD(Valve/$7055 WVE/QHT OF BONE DRY THREAD Fly. 5

I v Fly. 6

I .B A D EC l M L 1 k I ,L-"-" Fly. 7

B D E 6 0 fi ooooooooooo n o INVENTORS HAYDEN B. KLINE L AV R N J.JORDAN mwfl ATTORNEY Patented June, 1940 THREAD-ADVANCING near.

Hayden B. Kline, Cleveland, and Lavern I. Jordan, Fall-view, Ohio,assignors to Industrial Rayon Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, acorporation of Delaware Application October 26, 1936, Serial No. 107,667

6' Claims. This invention relates to the drying of substantiallycontinuous lengths obmaterlals, such as thread or the .like, undercircumstances inwhich provision is made for the shrinkage of suchmaterials. More particularly, the invention relates to the drying of.such material while stored a in a plurality of generally helical turnson a winding reel permitting controlled shrinkage of the material beingdried on the reel. While the 10 invention may be employed to advantagein the drying of any kind of thread or the like which shrinks whilebeing dried, it may be employed to particular advantage in the drying ofartificial silk thread produced by any of the known wetspinningprocesses, such, forexample, as the viscose, nitrocellulose andcuprammonium processes.

While the invention is applicable to the drying of a wide variety ofmaterials, generically referred to as thread or the like, forconvenience it will be described hereinafter as applied to the drying ofviscose artificial silk thread.

It is desirable that viscose artificial silk thread shall have along itslength uniform physical and physico-chemical characteristics, this beingparticularly true'inrespect of what may be called its residual capacityto shrink. The term residual capacity to shrink may be defined as theamount, in proportion to its original dry length, a dry thread will, ifunrestrained in any manner,

shrink upon being re-wet and redried. Residual capacity to shrink isimparted to a thread which is prevented from completely shrinking as itis dried, the amount of shrinkage which the thread is permitted toexperience before being prevented from further shrinking beingdeterminative of its residual capacity to shrink. Uniformity of residualcapacity to shrink is, however, extremely difficult to attain.

Uniformity of these P ysical and, physicochemical characteristics isparticularly desirable in thread employed in the weaving of fabrics. Insuch fabrics, the cloth is initially woven to a width substantiallyequal to or slightly greater than the desired width'of the finishedfabric.

. In the finishing operations, the woven fabric,

after being washed, dyed, etc., is dried in tentering frames which holdthe fabric to the desired finished width. If the thread of which thefabric is formed has a high residual capacity to shrink,

tearing of the fabric may result during the drying operation, due tostresses set up in the fabric as it shrinks while being thus held in thetentering frames. For this reason, it is desirable that the threadforming the fabric have a low residual .65 capacity to shrink,particularly since the looms used in the weaving industry, being offixed widths, may not be adjusted to compensate for excessive shrinkagestresses.

Non-uniformity in such characteristics causes imperfections in thefinished cloth, which imperfections are especially noticeable in dyedfabrics. Moreover, the manner of drying the thread, particularly in thecase of viscose artificial silk thread, determines to a large extent theuniformity and amount of residual capacity to shrink imparted to thethread, as well as the uniformity of other physical and physico-chemicalcharacteristics of the thread. For this reason, it is diflicult tomanufacture wholly satisfactory woven fabrics from artificial silkthread produced by a wet-spinning process in which the thread is driedon the spool on which it is collected. Such thread does not possess asatisfactory degree of uniformity, particularly in respect ;of thedesired low residual capacity to shrink. This arises from the fact thatthe thread does not shrink evenly when dried on the spool.

As a result, thread which has been dried while which, due to their rapiddrying, are prevented from shrinking by the inner layers of thread.

Other portions of the thread which are permitted to shrink more or lessfreely, such as the portions of thread in the inner layers of the cake,have'a relatively low residualv capacity to shrink. If such thread iswoven into a fabric which is dried on a tenterlng frame, the fabric willnot shrink 1 uniformly, due to such varying residual capacities toshrink, which adversely affect the uniformity with which the fabric maybe dyed. The portions of thread of high residual capacity to shrink aresubjected to higher tensions thanother portions as the cloth is dried,thus giving rise to bright streaks known to the fabric trade as shiners.

Heretofore, most of the wet-spun artificial silk thread manufactured forthe weaving industry has therefore been produced by a process in which rthe yarn is unwound while wet from the package in which it is collected,such package being either a pot-spun cake or a cake of thread wound on aspool, after which it is reeled into skein form. In

[the latter form, the thread, after being subjected to variousprocessing steps, is dried while hanging loosely, thus permittingsubstantially free shrinkage of the thread. Since the weight of thethread as it hangs from the skein rods while drying tends to stretchcertain portions of the thread and since all portions of the thread donot dry at the same rate, the thread inside of the skein winding driesmore slowly than the outer portions of the thread, thus. introducingvariations in the physical' and physico-chemical properties of thethread. It is therefore virtually impossible to obtain skein-driedthread which is of as high a. degree of uniformity as might be desired.Fullthermore, such methods entail a large amount of. handling, withconsequent disadvantages of excessive breakage of thread, high laborcosts, large investment in machinery, plant space, etc., all of whichfactors tend to make weaving thread comparatively expensive.

By the present invention, it is possible to produce thread which is ofuniform physical and physico-chemical characteristics along its entirelength, having in particular a uniform, predetermined residual capacityto shrink which may be as low as desired. The thread, because 'of thecontrol over the shrinkage made possible by the present invention, is ofa higher quality than the best that it has heretofore been possible tomanufacture on a commercial scale. It is particularly well suited toemployment in the weaving of fabric. The thread is dried whiletemporarily stored on a winding reel in a plurality ofspaced, advancinggenerally helical turns, the reel being adapted to permit eithersubstantially complete shrinkage of the thread or unrestrained shrinkageof the thread to a point at which a desired residual capacity to shrinkis imparted to the thread. Therefore, highly uniform artificial silkthread well suited for weaving may be produced at a much lower cost thanhas been heretofore possible.

Because of the improved means of drying the thread provided by thepresent invention, artificial silk thread may, as part of a continuousprocess, be unwound from the package in which it was collected, dried'ona winding reel embodying the'principles of this invention, andthereafter collected in suitable form. Suchoperations may be performed,for instance, by' means of apparatus in which one or more winding reelsare employed for processing thread supplied thereto directly from thespinning package. If desired, the thread may be dried according to thisinvention on apparatus of the general type shown, claimed and describedin prior copending application Serial No. 7,114, filed February 18,1935. For the purposesof convenience and illustration, but in no senseof limitation, the invention will be described in connection with thedrying of viscose artificial silk thread on a reel forming part of amachine for the continuous manufacture of artificial silk thread, of thegeneral type disclosed in the above-mentioned application Serial No.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of themachine of the general type shown in said last-mentioned application.Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same machine broken away moreclearly to show the construction thereof. Figure 4 is an end elevationof the reel from line 4-4 of Figure 3. Figure 5 is a graph showing theamount of shrinkage of viscose artificial silk thread for variousmoisture cally a preferred profile contour of a reel embodying theinvention, revealing the relation of the thread to the reel duringoperation thereof.

In the drawings, like reference characters refer to like partsthroughout.

In the apparatus illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the thread I from asuitable source, such as a coagulating bath in which it has been formed,is passed in sequence to and over each of a series of suitable windingreels on each of which it is subjected to one or more desired processingtreatments, three such reels, bearing referencev numerals 2, 3 and 4,being shown in theseflgures. On reels on which processing liquid isapplied to the thread, of which reel 2 is typical, the processingliquid, which in this case may be wash water, is applied by a suitabledistributor 5 supplied by pipe 6 from a supply manifold I which mayextend longitudinally of the machine and serve like reels in ahorizontal series. The liquid is collected in a suitable trough 8 whichmay be disposed beneath the reel and likewise extend longitudinally ofthe machine. On reel 3 no processing liquid need be applied, the threadbeing simply stored on said reel to provide a period for allowing excessliquid to drip from the thread. The thread is then passed to reel 4 onwhich it is dried according to the present invention. It is collected bysuitable means,,such as captwister 9.

Winding reels 2, 3 and 4. may, as illustrated, be of cantilever form,having one end free and unobstructed as shown, in which case the reelsmay be disposed in a stepped arrangement as illustrated. Such anarrangement is advantageousin that it provides ready access to the reelsfor threading up, inspection, replacement, repair, etc- Each'of thereels may be driven as illus-' trated through gears l0 and l I from adrive shaft i2 driven from a main drive shaft l3 which extendslongltudinally of the machine and drives each of the drive shafts l2fora vertical series of reels. Captwister 9 may be actuated in theconventional manner whereby a belt I, driven by suitable means, mayrapidly rotate the bobbin-supporting whirl I 5 while it is beingvertically reciprocated by chain It which may be actuated by anysuitable means.

The reel illustrated in Figures 3and 4 as embodying the inventioncorresponds to drying reel 4 of the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2. Thisreel is of a type similar to the'reel shown, described, and claimed in acopending application Serial No. 652,089, filed'January lfi, 1933. Fromthese figures it canbe seen that each reel comprises two rigid generallycylindrical members I! and I8. Member H, which may -be termed theconcentric member, is mounted concentrically upon and for-rotation withdrive shaft is and has its periphery comprised of a plurality of barmembers 2|. Member l8, which may be termed the eccentric member, may berotatably mounted with its axis slightly offset from and askew to thatof member l1 and has its periphery comprised of a plurality of barmembers 22 equal in number to the bar members 2! and alternatelydisposed therewith.

Concentric member ll may be formed as shown with the bar members 2|formed on the periphery of a cylindrical body 23, in which case greatrigidity is obtained. While member l'l may be mounted on the drive shaftI! in various man- Ii 7 ners, in that shown the generally cylindricalbody 23 thereof is provided with slots 26 at the rear end, in whichslots are disposed the ends I of pin 24 mounted in drive shaft 19against caused to rotate with shaft l9 by means of pin 24.

Eccentric member I8 is formed of a rigid cagelike member 21 mountedconcentrically upon an annular supporting member 28 as by bolts 29.Rigid cage-like member 21 is formed of the aforesaid bar members 22which are provided at their supported ends with an external supportingrib 3! by means of which the cage-like member 21 is mounted on annularsupporting member 28. Annular supporting member 28 is'rotatablysupported in the desired offset and askew posi-' tion with respect tothe axis of concentric member I! by being rotatably mounted on framemember 32, the shaft I! being journalled in or otherwise supported inthe desired relationship to frame member 32." A bushing 33 may, ifdesired,be provided in annular supporting mem-' ber 28 to act as abearing.

Rotation of reel drive shaft 19 causes concen-v erally cylindricalmember to the bar members of the other generally cylindrical member. Atthe same time, the askew relationship of the generally cylindricalmembers causes the thread to advance in a plurality of spaced generally.helical turns lengthwise of the reel.

The other reels 2 and 3 of the illustrated apparatus may be of the samegeneral type and operate in the same general manner.

As thethread'is continuously stored on the.

drying reel 4 (Figures 1 and 2), it is dried by suitable means. thedrying is accomplished by means of heated air supplied from a supplymanifold 35 through the shaft IQ of the reel 4 which may be made hollowfor this purpose. The heated air passes through the holes 36 in shaft 19to a chamber 31 in the interior of the cylindrical body 23 of concentricmember 11. It reaches the thread stored on the reel through theholes 38which may extend toward the spaces between the bars 2| of concentricmember II. In order to intensity the drying action, provide bettercontrol over the drying operation, and conserve the heated air, asuitable housing 39 may be provided, the same being supplied, ifdesired, .with a door by means of which access may be'obtained to thereel 4. The. air may pass through return duct 42 to an exhaust manifoldl3 .whence it may pass to suitable reconditioning and reheating means,not shown, after which it may be recirculated back through supplymanitold 35. v

If the reel is made of metal having good heat conductivity, an aluminum,drying of the thread may becaused to a material extent by condition ofheat through the reel members to the thread, as well as by convection ofthe air.

According to the present invention, provision is made ,for allowingsubstantially unrestrained shrinkage of the thread I as it isdried whilebe- In the apparatus illustrated,

ing progressed lengthwise of the drying reel 4 in a plurality of spacedgenerally helical turns..

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention;

plished by making the thread-bearing periphery of the reel of such formthat substantially unrestrained shrinkage of the threadoccurs thereasshown in Figures 3 and 4, this is accom on for at least a portion of thelength of the the length in the original wet condition for variouspercentages of moisture in the thread. The moisture content, plotted asthe abscissa, is the proportion that the weight of the moisture in thethread bears to the weight of the bone dry thread at any giventimefiwhile the percentage of shrinkage, plotted as the' ordinate, isthe proportion that the reduction in length of the thread due, toshrinkage bears to the original wet length of the thread for a givenmoisture content. seen from this curve, as the moisture content of thethread is reduced by drying, as from 300% to approximately 150%, verylittle shrinkage'of the thread occurs. However, at a moisture content ofapproximately 150%, noted as point B on the curve, pronounced shrinkageof the thread begins, which shrinkage increases as the moisture contentof the thread ie'reduced. When the moisture content of the. thread isreduced to zero, the thread for which the curve of Figure 5 As can bewas determined shrinks somewhat more'than 6% of its original length.

The occurrence of but slight shrinkage of the thread while its moisturecontent is being reduced from 300% to 150% may be due to the fact thatsubstantially all of the moisture re- 'moved from the thread during thisdrying phase may be surface moisture, while the high percentage ofshrinkage which occurs while the moisture content of the thread isreduced from 150% is probably *due to achange in the structure of thethread duringthe removal of in-' ternal moisture from the thread. It hasbeen found that moisture is rapidly removed from the thread until itsmoisture content is reduced to the point of pronounced shrinkage,whereas the remaining moisture is removed from the thread more slowly.This is probably due to the fact that the surface moisture is rapidlyremoved by evaporation, while the remaining moisture in the thread isremoved more slowly by. diffusion.

As drying of the thread occurs when it is stored on the reel in aplurality of spaced generally helical turns, the diameter of thegenerally helical turns of thread will tend to decrease due to shrinkageof the thread. For a given set of drying conditions, a given set ofoperating conditions of the reel, including a given spacing of thethread turns, and a given kind and size of thread, the generally helicalturns of thread will.

if shrinkage is unrestrained, define a surface tour which would bedefined. by the thread as it shrinks under the above circumstances. Fora given-set of conditions, this contour of the reel will permitunrestrained shrinkage of the thread.

A typical theoretical profile contour of a reel for free shrinkage ofthread which is dried under certain drying conditions on a winding reelof the general type and construction shown in Figures 3 and 4 isdiagrammatically shown in Figure 6. It will be noted that, from thepoint a at which the thread starts on the reel to the point b, the reelis substantiallycylindrical; from point b to point 0 the diameter of thereel diminishes, the profile contour between point b and point 0 being acurve from the larger-diameter of portion a-b of the reel to a smallerdiameter; while from point 0, at which shrinkage of the thread ceases,to the point d, at which the thread leaves the reel, the reel issubstantially cylindrical.

When the thread is stored in a plurality of spaced generally helicalturns and advanced from point a to point b while being dried, it losesexcess moisture, being in the condition corresponding to the portion ofthe curve of Figure 5 to the right of point B thereof. By the time itreaches point b on the reel, it has had its moisture content reduced tothe point corresponding to point B' of Figure 5, at which pronouncedshrinkage of the thread begins. Since moisture removed while the threadis advancing between points a and b is probably largely free surfacemoisture on the thread, which may be evaporated quickly, I

the relatively short length of travel represented by a-b is sufficient.As the thread is advanced 'from'point b to point 0, the thread, as shownby moisture content remaining in the thread after the drying operation,no further appreciable shrinkage thereof takes place, as is evidenced bythe generally cylindrical portion extending from c to the end of thereel.

While; as indicated, on a reel having this theoretical contoursubstantially unrestrained shrinkage of the thread is possible for agiven set of operating conditions and for a given kind of thread, anymarked variation in the drying conditions, the speed of the reel, thekind of thread being dried, etc., will necessitate a change in thiscontour. It has been found, however, that, by modifying the contour ofthe reel from the theoretical contour in a manner provided by thepresent invention, satisfactory results may be obtained, even overwidely-varying operating conditions and with threads of widely varyingsizes and physical characteristics. To more'clearly explain the formand'operation of a reel having a preferred peripheral contour, in Figure7 the theoretical profile contour of Figure 6 has been superposed inbroken lines on the preferred profile leaves the reel.

contour, shown'in full lines, of a winding reel embodying the invention,which reel for the purposes of correlation is of the same generalconstruction and which-is designed to operate over a range of conditionswhich include the operating conditions for the. reel embodying thetheoretical profile contour of Figure 6. v

The preferred contour of a reel embodying the invention is substantiallysimilar to the theoretical contour, as shown in Figure 7. As before, thereel may comprise two generally cylindrical portions A- B and C--Dhaving between them an intermediate portion B-C so formed that it variessomewhat from the portion b-c ofthe ideal contour, the diameters ofportion B--C of the preferred reel being less than the correspondingdiameters of a reel having the ideal contour, as shown in Figure '7. Inother words, at least a portion of the periphery of the reel over whichpronounced shrinkage of the thread takes place decreases in diameter ata greater rate, as the turns of thread are advanced along said portion,than the diameter of-each turn of thread tends to decrease due toshrinkage of the thread. As a result, substantially unrestrainedshrinkage ofthe thread is allowed to take place over such a portion ofthe reel.

The diameters of the portion CD of the reel ishrunk. In such case,drying of the thread is completed on the generally cylindrical portionC--D and a definite, uniform, controlled residual capacity to shrink isimparted to the thread.' If desired, the diameters of portion C--D maybe such as to allow the thread to shrink completely, in which case thethread may have no residual capacity to shrink. As shown in Figure 7,however, the diameter of portion CD of a reel of the preferred contouris slightly larger than the corresponding portion of a reel of thetheoretical contour shown, thus providing a certain small amount ofresidual capacity to shrink, in the thread. However, if desired, a reelhaving a theoretical contour may also be similarly made larger at thecorresponding portion to provide a desired amountof residual capacity toshrink in thread which may be dried on a reel having such contour. Byvarying the diameter of generally cylindrical portion C -D withinreasonable limits, it is possible to vary the residual capacity toshrink imparted to the thread. Thus, by increasing the diameter ofportion CD, the residual capacity to shrink imparted to the thread maybe increased; while by decreasing such diameters, the residual capacityto shrinkimparted to the thread may be decreased.

Furthermore, if desired, the generally cylin'drical portion CD of a reelof the preferred contour may, as illustrated, be somewhat longer than isnecessary to dry the thread to the desired moisture content, since suchlonger portion may provide an additional setting period for the threadto reach equilibrium drying conditions before it As previouslyindicated, the thread may 'not be dried to a bone-dry condition, but toa condition in which the'thread has a moisture content of around 10%ofthe bone-dry weight of the thread, corresponding to the ordinary regainmoisture content of thread produced by ordinary methods. This moistureis advantageous if, as in the illustrated embodiment. the thread istwisted after leaving the drying reed sine 'afmoisture content of thisamount aids lie twisting operation.

'e position of the thread on the reel while mg driedis shown toadvantage in the diagrammatic view of Figure 8, which shows in profilethe preferred contour of the reel and the "cross-section of the threadsthereon. In this I figure the first helical winding of the wet thread.

started on the. reel comes into contact with the reel at .A. The threadmay be very wet, having a moisture content which may be in'theneighborhood of 300%. As the thread is advanced 1 axially of the reel itis dried, as by convection of the heated air supplied from the interiorof a the reel and by the conduction of the heat through metallic bars ofthe reel. The moisture content of the thread is reduced as the thread isad-- vancedalongpqrtions A.-B of the reel at such a rate that, as thethread reaches the vicinity of point B, it is in the conditioncorresponding .to point B on the moisture contenthrinkage curve ofFigure 5, at which point pro "unced shrinkage of the thread begins. Theportion A--B of the ported on portion A--B of the reel, it is looselysupported when it is advanced over the portionoi' the diminishingdiameters B-C of the reel, due 0 the previously mentioned fact that thereductlons of the diameters of the reel, as the thread do'fadvancesalong this portion, are greater than the reductions in diameters of thecorresponding turns of thread occuring from shrinkage of the thread.This is illustrated by the fact that, duringoperation of the reel thethread turns on portion 3-0 of the reel actually leave the reel duringrotation thereof,- as shown in Figure 8, only occasionally touching thereel. The action of the reel as the thread turns advance along theportion BD thereof is not so much that of supporting the thread turns,but that of guiding and advancing the thread turns. The thread is thusallowed substantially urestrained shrinkage until I itcomes into'contact with the portion C-D of i the reel, on whichportion, if desired,the shrink 55 age of the thread may be halted and the drying ofthe-thread'allowed to proceed to completion. Thus, bylsuitably'designing the 'reel, there may be imparted. tothe thread adefinite uniform residual capacity to shrink which may 60 within reason,be of any desired magnitude.

The invention contemplates the employment of reel contours of variouskindsin the portion of the periphery over which unrestrained shrinkageof the thread is permitted to occur, but in general a straight'linecontour such as that of portion 13-0 of the reel shown and described ispreferred. The conditions aflecting the operation of the reel, such asthe kind of thread being dried, the temperature and humidity of theheated air, speed of rotation of the reel, etc., may be varied withreasonable limits without an appreciable variation in the p calproperties of the thread or of the residual capacity to shrink thereof.

5 This arises from the fact that the thread is loose- 1y supported whileshrinkage thereof occurs, and, while such variations vary the rate ofdrying of the thread, they merely change the position longitudinally ofportions 0-D of the point E at which the thread leaving the taperedportion 3-42 of the reel comes into contact with the generallycylindrical portion 0-D thereof. Thus, if the operating conditions areso varied that the thread dries somewhat more rapidly, and consequentlyshrinks more rapidly, the point E at which the thread contacts thegenerally cylindrical portion C--D moves nearer point C, while, if thethread is dried more slowly, the point E moves away from point C.

The amount the thread shrinks and the residual capacity to shrinkimparted to the thread are thus not afl'ected by such variations indrying conditions, since the thread is in each case permittedunrestrained shrinkage until it reaches portion C--D. This advantage isnot obtained on a reel having a tapered portion which decreases indiameter more gradually than the thread turns tend to decrease due toshrinkage.

In such case, the thread is under an appreciable amount of tension as itpasses 'over the tapered portion of the reel, since any variation in thedrying conditions causes the thread to complete its dryingat differentportions on the tapered portion of the reel, thus varying the amount ofshrinkage occurring in the thread as well as the residual capacity toshrink imparted. to the thread.

Because of the fact that reels of the type embodying the preferred formof the invention may operate under varying conditions withoutappreciable variations in the final physical properties of the thread,it is therefore possible to dry a plurality of threads, as on apparatusof the invention it is possible to have all threads produced on suchapparatus of substantially identical physical properties.

As an illustrative example of the operation of a reel having a contourof the type shown in Figure 8, it has been found in actual practice thatdesirable results are obtained in drying 150 denier 40 filament viscoseartificial silk thread on an aluminum drying reel ofthe type illustratedin Figures 3 and 4. In such reel the diameters of "the reel members atthe portions A--B thereof may be 4,950"; the diameters of the portionsof the reel members at portions C-D thereof,

4.700"; the distance from the point A at which the thread startson thereel to point B, and the distance from point B to C, 1 The reel ispreferably rotated at approximately 165 R. P. M., the thread beingsupplied from a preceding reel rotating at the same speed and havingreel members of 5" diameters at their discharge ends. Due to theconstruction of the reel,

the thread is advanced in a plurality of generally helical turns whichare spaced approximately ,16" apart. It is dried by heated air suppliedat 185 F. at a static pressure of about 6" of water.

The finished thread has along its entire length a very uniform lowresidual capacity to shrink very closely approximating 0.6%, all otherphysical and chemical characteristics or the thread being also of a highdegree of uniformity.

It has been found, further, that the amount of tension in the wet threadat the commencement of the drying operation determines to an appreciableextent the amount of residual capacity to shrink imparted to' the threadwhen it is dried on the reels of the present invention; Thus if thethread is under substantial tension at'the beginning of the dryingoperation, the residual capacity to shrink imparted to the thread willbe higher than if the thread is under little or no tension at thecommencement of the drying operation. For this reason, it is desirablethat, at the commencement of the drying operation, the thread be underas little tension as practicable for satisfac tory operation of thereel.

Where the thread is dried on an individual drying reel, as in theillustrated embodiment of the invention, this may be accomplished byproviding a peripheral speed of that portion of the drying reel on whichthe thread'first starts on-the reel; 1. e., portion A-B of the reel,which is less by a suitable amount than the linear speed at which thethread is supplied to the reel from the source of thread. Thus, in theillustrated apparatus in which the thread passes from a preceding .reelto the drying reel, the peripheral speed of portion A--B of the dryingreel may be less than,

the peripheral speed of the discharge end of the preceding reel. Thismay be accomplis'hed,'for instance, by making the portion A-B of thedrying reel and the discharge end of the preceding reel of the samediameters and rotating both reels at different angular speeds, or bymaking the diameter of portion A-B of the drying reel less than that ofthe discharge end of the preceding reel and driving both reels at thesame speed, or by a combination of these methods. As a result, anytension in the thread will be released, the thread, if it is at allstretched, being allowed to contract as it starts on the drying reel.

As an example of the effect of the initial ten-- sion,of the thread onthe residual capacity to shrink imparted to the thread the following isillustrative:

Viscose artificial silk thread is dried according reel is the same asthat of the discharge end of the preceding reel and both reels aredriven at the same speed. Consequently, no attempt is made to releaseany tension existing in the thread. The residual capacity to shrink ofthe thread so -dried is in the neighborhood of 1.6%.

Thread of the same kind is dried on a reel of the same generaldimensions as the reel of the preceding example, the only diiferencebeing that thediameter of portion A-B or the reel is 1% less than thediameter 01' the discharge end of the reel immediately preceding it. Inthis case, as

- in the preceding case, there is a difler'en'ce of 4 /z% between thediameters or portions A-B and 0-1) of the reel. Both the reel inquestion and the reel immediately preceding it are ro-v tated at 165 R.P. M., thethread being dried by aaoaoao heated air at 185 F. suppliedfrom the interior principles. It may be applied to reels on which thethread is dried by other means than heated air, as in the examplesherein given. Furthermore, reels embodying the invention may be employedfor other uses and in other arrangements than those herein illustratedwithout in any way departing from the spirit of the invention. In

tended to include, besides thread, all articles of the nature of threador the like which may be wound and dried on reels according to theteachings of the present invention.

It is intended tha t the patent shall cover, by suitable expression inthe appended claims, whatever featuresof patentable novelty reside inthe invention.

What is claimedis:

i. In apparatus for handling thread, a threadadvancing reel made up of aplurality of interdigitating cage members, means for rotating said cagemembers, means providing relative movement between the thread-bearingsurfaces of said cage members to advance the thread lengthwise oi thereel in a series of generally helical turns, and means for subjectingthe thread asit is being advanced on thereel to conditions which causeit to shrink, the reel being substantially circular in transverse crosssection from one end thereof to the other but having 'a peripherycomprising a first substantially cylindrical portion on which the threadis advanced in firmly supported turns, an intermediate substantiallyfrusto-conical portion on which successive perimeters of the reel-in thedirection of travel of the thread aresui'ficiently shorter than thelengths of the corresponding thread turns to permit the thread toadvance in loosely supported turns, and a second substantiallycylindrical portion of smaller diameter than said first substantiallycylindrical portion on s the appended claims, theterm thread is'inwhichthe thread is advanced in firmly supported -1 V turns.

2. In apparatus for handling thread, a threadadvancing reel made up of aplurality of interdigitating cage members, means for rotating said cagemembers, means providing relative movement between the thread-bearingsurfaces of said cage members to advance the thread lengthwise of thereel in a series of generally helical turns, and means for subjectingthe thread as it is being ad- 'vanced on the reel to conditions whichcause it to shrink, the reel being substantially circular ,in'transverse cross section from one end thereof to the other but having aperiphery comprising a substantially cylindrical portion on which thethread is advanced in firmly supported turns and. associated therewith,a substantially frusto-conical portion on which successive perimeters ofthe 7 --reel in the direction of travel of the thread are claim 2 inwhich "the substantially cylindrica t 3. Apparatus of the characterdescribed mi portion on which the thread is advanced in ma "it supportedturns constitutes the portion on which the thread starts on the reel.

4. Apparatus of the character described in claim 2 .in which the meanstor subjecting the thread to conditions which cause it to shrinkincludes means for passing a gaseous medium outward through theperiphery of the reel whereby the turns of thread on said substantiallyfmstoconical portion are urged away from the reel by said gaseousmedium.

5. In apparatus for handling thread, a threadadvancing reel made up of aplurality of interdigitating cage members, means for rotating said cagemembers, means providing relative movement between the thread-bearingsurfaces of said cage members to advance the thread lengthwise of theperiphery of the reel in a series of generally helical turns, and meansfor subjecting the thread as it is being advanced to processingconditions which cause it to shrink, the periphery of the reel includingan initial generally cylindrical portion on which the thread is firmlysupported and, associated therewith, a succeeding generally taperedportion so correlated to the processing conditions to which'the threadis thus subjected that in spite of the. tendency of the thread to shrinkas it is advanced successive perimeters oi the reel taken in thedirection of travel oi the thread are small enough as compared with thelengths of the corresponding thread turnsto enable the thread to advanceloosely over said generally tapered portion.

6; In apparatus for handling thread, a threadadvancing reel made up 01'a plurality of interdigitating cagemembers, means Ior rotating said cagemembers, means providing relative movement between the thread-bearingsurfaces of said cage members to advance the thread lengthwise of theperiphery of the reel in a series of generally helical turns, and meansfor subjecting the thread as it is being advanced to processingconditions which cause it to shrink, the periphery of the reel includingtwo spaced, generally cylindrical portlons on each of which the threadis firmly supported and an intermediate generally tapered portion socorrelated to the processing conditions to which the thread is thussubjected that in thread to advance loosely over said generally taperedportion.

HAYDEN B. KLINE. LAVERNJ. JORDAN.

